Legislative Process

Legislative process seldom resembles the model of representative democracy that students learn in civics classes. Loading up popular bills with unrelated legislation known as riders, back-room deals to sneak in provisions without debates and dishing out pork-barrel spending are common.

A year ago they were the starry-eyed rookies of the Capitol, raw and eager and idealistic and frankly amazed that the people of California were willing to pay them $99,000 a year to help run this sprawling state. Then came reality. It was somewhat less glamorous. Their bills, so lovingly crafted, were mangled, diluted or killed outright. Modest budget requests--$50,000 for an anti-litter program, $200,000 for a high school pool--were rejected out of hand. Long hours strained families.

When asked Thursday whether there is a serious split between Gov. Gray Davis and Democratic leaders of the Legislature, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton launched into a step-by-step recitation of how a bill becomes law--a verbal version of the chart that appears in every student's political science primer. Davis knows the process well, of course, from his quarter-century in Sacramento. This was Burton's way of telling the governor's office to stop meddling with the legislative process.

If he is elected governor, millionaire Democrat Al Checchi says, he will put 10,000 more cops on the street, cut taxes, raise teacher salaries, bail out struggling cities and apply the death penalty to more crimes. By any measure, the former chief of Northwest Airlines has proffered an ambitious wish list for state government.

Now that the old NCAA convention process--one school, one vote--has been replaced by a legislative flow chart that seems like an academic version of limbo. . . what does it mean for the student-athletes? For one thing, the days of heated convention rhetoric meaning anything are gone. On the contentious issue of student-athlete part-time employment at last year's convention, one delegate said, "Do you want to keep time cards for your student-athletes at McDonald's?"

The Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15 of each year. --California Constitution, Art. 4, Sec. 12. * Irresponsible. Inept. Lethargic. Cowardly. Childish. Arrogant. Choose your adjective to describe a Legislature that again has missed the budget deadline and really doesn't seem to care. It probably doesn't care because neither do most Californians. They've become used to this summer silliness in Sacramento. It's an old, stale story.

Progressive reformers of the early 20th century thought that if they gave citizens the tools for more direct democracy, popular will would be better expressed and legislative abuses remedied. These tools consisted of the initiative, through which citizens could propose laws for the voters' direct approval; the referendum, through which the Legislature could refer issues to the voters; and the recall, which would enable the people to vote elected officials out of office.

In "Governor's Agenda Made Few Gains in Legislature" (Sept. 19) The Times distorted what really happened on the legal reform front in the final hours of the 1995 session. Major reforms to reduce abusive lawsuits and restore balance to the civil justice system were approved by the full Assembly and sent to the Senate--the first time in 20 years that legal reforms have ever made it this far in the legislative process. We hope that when the Legislature reconvenes in January, members of the state Senate share the same conviction to listen to their constituents, who are fed up with paying for a legal system commandeered by a select few members of the legal profession.

To environmental officials and activists who started 1994 with soaring expectations for new legislation, the year was one of dashed hopes, sobering political realities and, in recent weeks, commitment to a fresh approach in 1995. Nine major environmental bills were shelved or rejected by the 103rd Congress. Only one survived the partisan wars--a bill President Clinton has signed to set aside millions of acres of California desert as wilderness and national parkland.

Using videotapes and interactive town hall meetings, the Legislature plans to begin bringing state government closer to high school students through an innovative statewide teaching project called "LegiSchool." The project, which will be operated in partnership with Cal State Sacramento, will use videotapes of legislative floor sessions and live town hall meetings broadcast from the Capitol.